School on Fire
by The Differencer
Summary: Neville wants nothing more than to do research for his herbology report. However, a bizarre girl, his clumsiness, and the weather all seem to have different plans. Join Neville on this sweet little trip into the moonlight!


School on Fire  
  
Neville Longbottom was staring at his feet as though they were the most fascinating thing in the history of the universe as he walked down the hallway. He had never had a huge amount of self-confidence and if people were staring at him as he walked, he preferred not to know. Since most people only ever looked his way when he was getting yelled at by Professor Snape, the evil potions teacher, or when he was getting a tirade from Professor McGonagall about being more careful with his spells, he considered attention a bad thing. Keeping his head as low as it would go without looking like Quasimodo, Neville made his way to the Come and Go Room, or the Room of Requirement. People called it that because when you went there it would hold everything you need. Like if you needed a pen you would probably find 1,000 to choose from.  
  
Professor Sprout, the herbology teacher, had given all of the 7th year students a four page paper on the danger of cross breeding devils snares and whomping willows Neville found it easier to request specific kinds of book from the requirement room than to go to the library and look through hundreds of volumes in the library and probably only find one useful book. It was one of his better ideas if he did say so himself. Herbology had always been his best subject. Something about all of the beautiful colors of the flowers and how each and every plant was never the same as the one next to it always made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.  
  
Unlike the plants, however, Neville was nothing special, unique, or even remotely beautiful. Well, handsome, since most guys didn't prefer to be called beautiful. Not that anyone had ever called him handsome, of course. Neville was seventeen, a mediocre student, and he wasn't Mr. Popular, but he was very sweet. If anyone ever needed help carrying books, a shoulder to cry on, or help with their herbology homework he was ready to help as much as he could in an instant. Being sweet didn't make you popular, though. It pretty much made you a goody-goody outcast. Neville did have a few good friends; Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.  
  
When he reached the statue of Barnibus the Barmy on the seventh floor, he knew he was close to his destination, he just couldn't remember how to get there at the moment. It didn't bother him too much because he was always forgetting things and he knew he would remember eventually. He started to pace the hallway and after a few minutes, the door appeared and Neville remember that that was how you got to the room. The wooden door that appeared was so shiny that he could see his own reflection. He had sandy brown hair with a cowlick on his forehead that made it stick up at odd angles. Neville had bright, baby blue, doe eyes, but not many people got to see them because he was always staring at the ground. He wasn't nearly as chubby as he had been as a child, but he was still soft around the middle. He had never even dared to dream of big, buff muscles or a six- pack; plus he was just fine with the way he was.  
  
He fumbled with the golden door knob for a moment and then pushed it open. Instead of seeing shelves stacked with books on devils snares and whomping willows, he saw a ton of burning candles and insense that made the whole place smell delightfully of cinnamon. He was wondering what was going on, when he spotted the answer.  
  
Luna Lovegood, a sixth year Ravenclaw, was meditating in the far corner with her eyes closed and her legs in the lotus position; the one where you have your legs crossed with your feet on your thighs. Neville had attempted it once and ended up losing his balance and falling off his bed. Luna didn't even seem to notice his presence and just went on meditating peacefully. His first thought was to leave before he disturbed her, but then realized that he needed books for his report. So as quietly as he could, Neville walked over to the book shelf and began to take out the ones that looked promising.  
  
But, as usual, Neville's clumsiness had other plans. He was holding some of his books in one hand and reaching up to the top shelf when he lost his balance. Before he even realized what was happening, all of his books had flown out of his hands and crashed to the floor. In attempt to keep himself from falling he grabbed the bookshelf but since it wasn't very stable it fell on top of him. All of the books in it came tumbling out and hurtled at the ground. The bookcase itself wasn't very heavy so it didn't hurt too badly when it landed on him. The four or five hard-covered text book that hit him in the face when they fell, however, did.  
  
After everything had finished falling, Neville opened his eyes to assess the damage he had done. When he opened his eyes though, he saw two big, silver orbs hovering above him like moons hanging in the sky.  
  
"Neville," a girly voice said in a dreamy, far off tone. "Why are you lying under a bookcase? It doesn't look too comfortable."  
  
At first he thought she was joking, but the look on her face and the concerned tint in her eyes made him think otherwise. Why would she seriously think he liked being crushed? But then again, no one ever took Luna too seriously. Some people even called her Loony Lovegood and Neville never understood why people were so mean to her. Just because she was a little eccentric, okay, maybe just weird, didn't give them the right to make fun of her. The girls often made fun of the way she dressed. At the moment, Luna had her strangely blonde hair in two very high pig tails, her want was tucked behind her ear like most people would put a pencil, she was wearing a necklace made of corks, and her earrings looked like big, orange radishes. She had on her school uniform, but one sock was lime green while the other one was pale pink.  
  
But Luna didn't just dress weird, she acted different too. She was always talking about some make-believe creature that she was sure was real or reading her books upside down. Neville had noticed over the past seven years that being weird in school wasn't allowed. If you thought outside of the box you were considered a social outcast. Luna most defiantly thought outside of the box.  
  
"Would you like some help?" she asked, snapping Neville out of his thoughts.  
  
"Yeah," he nodded a little, but stopped when the places where the books had hit began to shoot with pain. Luna walked around to the other side of him and hoisted the shelf off of him. Then she offered him her hand and helped him to his feet.  
  
"T-thank you," he stammered. "I'm sorry I interrupted you. I d-didn't mean to but I'm just so clumsy."  
  
Luna smiled lightly at him and her eyes twinkled with amusement. She didn't respond to his apology. Instead she pulled him closer and squinted her eyes like she was looking for something. Neville was just about to ask what she was doing when she spoke. "You're going to have a pretty nasty bump there. It'll probably be the size of a Snorkack egg!" Snorkacks were one of her crazy animals. He had heard her talk about them before and knew that they were a combination of a bird, snake, and mouse. Hopefully their eggs weren't too big.  
  
"Um, yeah," was the only thing Neville could think to say. Luna continued to stare at him with her brilliant silver eyes. They were the kind of eyes that seemed as though they could see straight into your soul and know exactly what you were thinking. Normally Neville would have adverted his eyes within the first few seconds of eye contact, but he couldn't look away.  
  
Then, without any warning, Luna grabbed hold of his hand and started to pull him toward the door. "Where are we going?" he questioned.  
  
"You're going to come and dance in the rain with me," she replied simply as though it was something she did everyday. "Ever since it started drizzling this morning I wanted to go outside but I didn't have anyone to go with. Now, you are coming with me."  
  
Neville was so bewildered with what she said that he didn't have any time to protest. It was common knowledge that he could not dance and was always stepping on his dance partners toes if he tried. Just when Luna had pulled the door open, however, he stopped in his tracks. Something was starting to smell funny, like burning hair.  
  
"Do you smell that?" he asked her uncertainly.  
  
Luna turned to look at him but her eyes caught sight of the blaze that was starting to take place behind him and she pointed it out to him. Apparently one of the books that had fallen had knocked over a candle and it had caught the carpet and several books on fire. Neville immediately froze. His first instinct was to run, but he couldn't just let the school burn down. Luna had quicker reaction than he did. She had taken out her wand and lazily said the incantation to put out the fire as though she did it everyday. Nothing ever seemed to affect her. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing all the time without even a second thought.  
  
"Let's go dance!" she squealed in delight and took his hand once again. Luna led him out the door and didn't even acknowledge what had just happened. Half of the room had just been burned to ashes and she wanted to go dance. Neville was still too shocked to speak and just followed her in a stupor. He followed her down the staircases, through the hallways, and out the front door of the castle.  
  
It was raining harder than it had been that morning. The drizzle had turned into a straight downpour, but once again, Luna didn't notice. It was dark out since it was 8:00 and the clouds were hiding the moon and the stars so the only light was coming from the windows of the school. The cold water was splattering all over Neville and within the first ten seconds he was completely drenched from head to toe. Luna was too, but she didn't stop to dance just there. She had a specific place in mind and Neville was sure that even lightening could stop her from going.  
  
He could see goose bumps starting to form on her arms and her fingers were starting to become slippery so he had to adjust his grip to keep from losing contact. Luna finally stopped when they reached the lake. They could see the rain droplets hitting the water and sending ripples through the usually smooth surface. But since it was raining so hard, there were so many ripples they all ran in to each other and made even more.  
  
"L-Luna, I don't know how to dance," he admitted, blushing slightly even though he didn't know why.  
  
"You don't need to know how to dance to be able to dance," she replied in a singsong voice. "All you do is move around, spin in circles, whatever you want to do. You just dance."  
  
It made no sense to Neville though. But she didn't give him any chance too think about it. She had grabbed his other hand and started spinning in circles to fast that the only thing he could see clearly was her face. They were twirling and looping and twisting their way around the whole lake. Neville completely forgot about being cold and wet and nervous. The only thing he could think about were her eyes.  
  
Then he thought her heard music; but he didn't know where it was coming from. Maybe Luna's eccentric-ness was rubbing off on him and he was imagining things. He had never heard this song before, but it was a nice one that as soon as you heard it you thought 'Luna!'  
  
We get almost every night When that moon is big and bright It's a supernatural delight Everybody's dancing in the moonlight  
  
Luna had stopped moving and Neville almost fell over because he hadn't been quite ready to stop. This time, instead of jumping around and swing every where, she wrapped her arms around his neck and as if on instinct his arms went around her waist. They just rocked back and forth to the music.  
  
Everybody here is out of sight They don't bark and they don't bite They keep things loose, they keep it tight Everybody's dancing in the moonlight  
  
Dancing in the moonlight Everybody's feeling warm and bright It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancing in the moonlight  
  
We like our fun and we never fight You can't dance and stay uptight It's a supernatural delight Everybody's dancing in the moonlight  
  
By the time the song ended, they were barely even moving. Now Neville understood what she meant. You don't need to know how to dance to dance. It just happened. Normally when Neville danced, he was nervous and jumpy. But like the song said, "You can't dance and stay uptight," or well, at least not when you dance with Luna Lovegood.  
  
Without saying anything, Luna started leading him back to the castle and Neville couldn't help but be disappointed that it was over. They stepped in a ton of puddles and by the time they reached the front door they were both covered in mud up to their knees. Not that either of them minded, of course. Luna stopped walking when they reached the end of the entrance hall and Neville knew that it was time to say goodnight.  
  
"Thank you for dancing with me, Neville," Luna smiled up at him and as soon as their eyes met, his mind went blank and he didn't even know what he was doing. Slowly, he closed his eyes and leaned forward and then.... Bam! Their foreheads had collided and they both winced in pain.  
  
Luna giggled lightly and Neville turned a bright red. He had never so mortified in his entire life, and that was saying something. Luna didn't seem baffled by his mistake, though, because she stood on her tiptoes, gave him a small peck on the cheek and dashed off down the hallway before what happened could even register with his brain.  
  
Neville slowly made his way back to his dormitories, smiling stupidly to himself, and completely forgetting about his Herbology report.  
  
*The characters and setting are based on J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series. I didn't invent them, just made a cute little story with them. (  
  
*The song, "Dancing in the Moonlight" is by the band Toploader. 


End file.
